This week we turn our attention to build-up to The Great Patriotic War (aka World War II) and the immediate post-war period. Please use one of the modules from 1939, 1943 or 1947 in Seventeen Moments in Soviet History on-line archive. You should consult Ch. 12 in the Freeze text. If you are writing about something specific to the war, it would be worth considering William C. Fuller’s discussion on pp. 383-392 of Freeze about the reasons for Soviet victory.
I have also flagged some resources that might be of interest on my blog here.
As you develop your topic, think about how your post might address either of these questions:
- Why was Stalin’s Soviet Union so ill-prepared for the war?
- How did the Soviets nonetheless manage to prevail?
There’s plenty of action, drama, and complexity to keep us all engaged this week. Ни шагу назад!